THE GRQWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. 265 



the importance of a well-devised and carefully-prosecuted scheme of 

 internal communication by a complete system of railroads. 



56. In 1812 he published a pamphlet embodying "Documents 

 tending to prove the Superior Advantages of Railways and Steam- 

 Carriages over Canal Navigation. " ' 



At this time, the only working locomotive in the world was that 

 of Trevithick and Vivian, at Merthyr- Tydvil, and the railroad 

 itself had not grown beyond the old wooden tram-roads of the col- 

 lieries. 



Yet, Colonel Stevens says in this paper, " I can see nothing to 

 hinder a steam-carriage moving on its ways with a velocity of one 

 hundred miles an hour," adding in a foot-note : "This astonishing ve- 

 locity is considered here merely possible. It is probable that it may 

 not, in practice, be convenient to exceed twenty or thirty miles per 

 hour. Actual experiments can only determine this matter, and I 

 should not be surprised at seeing steam-carriages propelled at the rate 

 of forty or fifty miles an hour." 



At a yet earlier date he had addressed a memoir to the proper au- 

 thorities, urging his plans for railroads. 



He proposed rails of timber, protected when necessary by iron 

 plates, or to be made wholly of iron. The car-wheels were to be of 

 cast-iron, with inside flanges to keep them on the track. The steam- 

 engine was to be driven by steam of fifty pounds pressure, and to be 

 non-condensing. 



Answering the objections of Robert R. Livingston and of the com- 

 missioners of New York, he goes further into details. 



57. He gives 500 to 1,000 pounds as the maximum weight to be 

 placed on each wheel, shows that the trains or " suites of carriages," 

 as he calls them, will make their journeys " with as much certainty 

 and celerity in the darkest night as in the light of day," shows that 

 the grades of proposed roads would offer but little resistance, and 

 places the whole subject before the public with such accuracy of 

 statement, and such evident appreciation of its true value, that every 

 one who reads this remarkable document will agree fully with the late 

 President Charles King, of Columbia College, who said that " whoso- 

 ever shall attentively read this pamphlet will perceive that the politi- 

 cal, financial, commercial, and military aspects of this great question 

 were all present to Colonel Stevens's mind, and that he felt that he 

 was fulfilling a patriotic duty when he placed at the disposal of his 

 native country these fruits of his genius. 



" The offer was not then accepted. The Thinker was ahead of his 

 age, but it is grateful to know that he lived to see his projects carried 

 out though not by the Government and that before he finally, in 

 1838, closed his eyes in death, at the great age of eighty-nine, he 

 could justly feel assured that the name of Stevens, in his own person 



1 Printed by T. & J. Swords, 1160 Pearl Street, New York, 1812. 



